Middle East Crisis Gaza War

Israeli Minister: “Time for full force in Gaza”

Israel’s far-right Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, says it is time to go “full force” in Gaza, AFP reports.

The statement comes after Hamas yesterday rejected the US proposal for a ceasefire.

“There are no more excuses. The confusion, reversals and weakness must end. We have already missed too many opportunities. It is time to go full force, without blinking, to destroy and kill Hamas,” Ben Gvir wrote on Telegram.

Israel approved the US proposal but Hamas said it would mean “a continuation of the killing and starvation.”

UN: 100 percent of the population at risk of starvation

Israel is blocking almost all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, a UN agency told Reuters. With almost no food that can be eaten without cooking, the Gaza Strip is the “hungriest place in the world,” a spokesman said.

Jens Laerke, from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that only 600 of 900 trucks had been allowed to enter. And of those that have been allowed to enter, many obstacles stand in the way of distributing the emergency aid, the spokesman said.

“It is the only defined place in the world where the entire population is at risk of starvation. 100 percent of the population is at risk of starvation,” he said, according to AFP.

Macron: Europe must be tougher on Israel

European countries must put tougher pressure on Israel. This is the opinion of French President Emmanuel Macron, reports AFP.

If the humanitarian situation in Gaza does not improve “in the coming hours and days, we must tighten our collective position,” Macron said in connection with his visit to Singapore.

After more than two months of Israeli blockade, aid shipments began to enter Gaza this week. The distribution of food is handled by the US- and Israeli-backed humanitarian organization Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The UN has distanced itself from GHF, which is run entirely without Palestinian involvement.